A middle-aged man identified as a night guard was allegedly killed by armed robbers at Oju-Irin in the Akobo area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Saturday when robbers numbering about 15 invaded the area at about 2: am.
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Gbenga Fadeyi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), confirmed that some night guards were attacked, but denied that any security officer was killed in the attack.
Fadeyi said, “They ran away before the arrival of the police in the area. Efforts have been intensified to arrest these hoodlums that carried out the evil act. The information I gathered is that the night guards that were attacked sustained injuries but were rescued by the police and taken to UCH and now responding to treatment. No guard was killed,” he said.
But landlords at Idi-Isin and the leader of security guards in the area simply identified as Mr Fagbenro insisted that a security guard was shot dead at Oju Irin when the robbers arrived at about 1: am before moving to other areas, while some of his boys are in critical condition at various hospitals.
There were bloodstains around the transformer in the area when newsmen visited the spot where the guards were attacked.
One of the executives of the Landlord Association at Idi-Isin area, who didn’t want his name in print, said the robbers arrived at the area in a Micra Nissan car at about 1am and raided houses at Yawiri area before proceeding to other areas of the community.
He confirmed that one night guard was killed around Oju-Irin and two security guards who were instructed to man a transformer at Idi-Isin were brutally attacked for preventing the robbers from carting away electrical wires from the transformer.
According to him, the residents alerted the police officers on duty at Akobo Police Station when they noticed the arrival of the robbers but got no response from the police, until around 6 am.
“It is true that the robbers killed one night guard at Oju Irin but here, attacked our night guard. I am also aware that a couple was attacked at Yawiri up there and about 12 other night guards were also attacked.
“Upon investigation, we heard they arrived in this area around 2: am in a Micra Nisan car and three motorbikes. Our night guards were just returning from a patrol when they attacked them at the point of the transformer. The guards are in the hospital recuperating now,” he said.
In a statement issued by the Landlords Association of the Idi Isin on Sunday tagged “Security situation worrisome in Akobo Oju Irin and environs”, the concerned landlords stated that the spate of the attacks on the residents of the area was worrisome.
The statement reads; “for some time now, the residents of Akobo Ojuirin, Yawiri, Idi-Isin and its environs have not been sleeping with their two eyes closed. Armed robbers have been attacking the residents on a daily basis, beating up people, collecting money, phones, laptops, maiming and even killing innocent people.
“In the early hours of Saturday, a young night guard was killed at Oju Irin by the heartless men of the underworld. Our people are now living in fear as we don’t know the next target of these evil-minded people. Sadly, the police at the Akobo Police station who are supposed to respond to distress calls in the night will arrive the scene hours after the robbers must have left.”